view:--First, As it has been proved to arise on the continent of Africa in
the course of reducing the inhabitants of it to slavery;--Secondly, in the
course of conveying them from thence to the lands or colonies of other
nations;--And Thirdly, In continuing them there as slaves.

To see it as it has been shown to arise in the first case, let us suppose
ourselves on the Continent just mentioned. Well then--We are landed--We are
already upon our travels--We have just passed through one forest--We are
now come to a more open place, which indicates an approach to habitation.
And what object is that, which first obtrudes itself upon our sight? Who is
that wretched woman, whom we discover under that noble tree, wringing her
hands, and beating her breast, as if in the agonies of despair? Three days
has she been there at intervals to look and to watch, and this is the
fourth morning, and no tidings of her children yet. Beneath its spreading
boughs they were accustomed to play--But alas! the savage man-stealer
interrupted their playful mirth, and has taken them for ever from her
sight.

But let us leave the cries of this unfortunate woman, and hasten into
another district:--And what do we first see here? Who is he, that just now
started across the narrow pathway, as if afraid of a human face? What is
that sudden rustling among the leaves? Why are those persons flying from
our approach, and hiding themselves in yon darkest thicket? Behold, as we
get into the plain, a deserted village! The rice-field has been just
trodden down around it. An aged man, venerable by his silver beard, lies
wounded and dying near the threshold of his hut. War, suddenly instigated
by avarice, has just visited the dwellings which we see. The old have been
butchered, because unfit for slavery, and the young have been carried off,
except such as have fallen in the conflict, or have escaped among the woods
behind us.